Padded "Isolation" Room Used to Punish Children with Disabilities at WA Public School

LONGVIEW, WA -- A concerned mother who posted photos of an “isolation booth” in a Longview elementary school on Facebook said she wanted other parents to know how the school uses the space. The school principal said the padded room is used for students who have behavioral disabilities.

“How come they’re not providing documentation about how this ‘therapeutic booth’ is beneficial?” said Bate. “Show me some real numbers. Show me something from the medical community that says more times than not and all the documentation that backs it up. Don’t tell me ‘well, their parents said we could do it.’”

So the media spins the title to make it seem as though a teacher is laughing and twirling his moustache whilst wheeling in some poor cripple in a wheelchair and locking him away for the rest of the week. It's essentially just a "cool room" with padding. Many schools have an empty room to send students to when they need to "cool down". The only difference with this one is that it's padded. So it's safer, and it's actually not approved for all students anyway.

So the media spins the title to make it seem as though a teacher is laughing and twirling his moustache whilst wheeling in some poor cripple in a wheelchair and locking him away for the rest of the week. It's essentially just a "cool room" with padding. Many schools have an empty room to send students to when they need to "cool down". The only difference with this one is that it's padded. So it's safer, and it's actually not approved for all students anyway.

So the media spins the title to make it seem as though a teacher is laughing and twirling his moustache whilst wheeling in some poor cripple in a wheelchair and locking him away for the rest of the week. It's essentially just a "cool room" with padding. Many schools have an empty room to send students to when they need to "cool down". The only difference with this one is that it's padded. So it's safer, and it's actually not approved for all students anyway.

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You must be trolling us with this comment.

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Feel free to back up your disagreement with your opinion on the matter.

So the media spins the title to make it seem as though a teacher is laughing and twirling his moustache whilst wheeling in some poor cripple in a wheelchair and locking him away for the rest of the week. It's essentially just a "cool room" with padding. Many schools have an empty room to send students to when they need to "cool down". The only difference with this one is that it's padded. So it's safer, and it's actually not approved for all students anyway.

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You must be trolling us with this comment.

Click to expand...

Feel free to back up your disagreement with your opinion on the matter.

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My opinion is that locking children in boxes, in the way that these people are doing, is arguably a form of classical conditioning, which is beyond twisted.

If the parents signed off on this padded room being used for their children, where does the wrong doing come in?

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"Anything done with the approval of the public and authority figures is right!"

This attitude makes me feel ill.

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Your mindset is one giant reason why I lack respect for a lot of people here. You impose what YOU THINK I am saying rather than looking at what I actually said.

My point stands. If the parents are okay with this and believe me, I'm sure they know their kids a lot better than a bunch of idiotic, outraged, jump-to-conclusions with no info assholes on the internet. In this case and most cases, I will side with the parents. Logically there is no other way to look at this.

So the media spins the title to make it seem as though a teacher is laughing and twirling his moustache whilst wheeling in some poor cripple in a wheelchair and locking him away for the rest of the week. It's essentially just a "cool room" with padding. Many schools have an empty room to send students to when they need to "cool down". The only difference with this one is that it's padded. So it's safer, and it's actually not approved for all students anyway.

If the parents signed off on this padded room being used for their children, where does the wrong doing come in?

Click to expand...

"Anything done with the approval of the public and authority figures is right!"

This attitude makes me feel ill.

Click to expand...

Your mindset is one giant reason why I lack respect for a lot of people here. You impose what YOU THINK I am saying rather than looking at what I actually said.

My point stands. If the parents are okay with this and believe me, I'm sure they know their kids a lot better than a bunch of idiotic, outraged, jump-to-conclusions with no info assholes on the internet.

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Clearly not, because neither the parents nor the school officials are able to see the psychological damage that they're clearly doing. I fully expect this scandal to lead to a controversy in which the individuals responsible for implementing the policy will be punished in some way. How can I not jump to this conclusion when any sane person who has taken an intro College Psychology course should be able to see how this is a foolish and antiquated form of punishment.

And how am I twisting your words? The only point that you're making is that this policy is ok because both the parents and the school authorities are consenting to it. How is that different from, "Anything done with the approval of the public and authority figures is right!"?

"Anything done with the approval of the public and authority figures is right!"

This attitude makes me feel ill.

Click to expand...

Your mindset is one giant reason why I lack respect for a lot of people here. You impose what YOU THINK I am saying rather than looking at what I actually said.

My point stands. If the parents are okay with this and believe me, I'm sure they know their kids a lot better than a bunch of idiotic, outraged, jump-to-conclusions with no info assholes on the internet.

Click to expand...

Clearly not, because neither the parents nor the school officials are able to see the psychological damage that they're clearly doing. I fully expect this scandal to lead to a controversy in which the individuals responsible for implementing the policy will be punished in some way. How can I not jump to this conclusion when any sane person who has taken an intro College Psychology course should be able to see how this is a foolish and antiquated form of punishment.

And how am I twisting your words? The only point that you're making is that this policy is ok because both the parents and the school authorities are consenting to it. How is that different from, "Anything done with the approval of the public and authority figures is right!"?

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You're reading too far into what I said. If I wrote a few paragraphs explaining my thoughts on this subject and then added in some filler to fully explain my stance on public and authority figure approval, then maybe I would give you the merit to just assume I agree with all public figures because they are public figures (I don't, btw).

I am simply commenting on this ONE instance and based on the article and common sense I side with the parents. I believe there is a reason this is being done and doubt it's being used as an archaic form of punishment on generally unruly kids. The article clearly point out these kids have "behavioral disabilities" and it's not uncommon for schools to issue "time outs" or have "cool down/cool off rooms" for out of control students.

I think the problem most people have is what I refer to as the softening of society to a point where truly effective methods are looked down upon in favor of PC methods that don't really work.

Your mindset is one giant reason why I lack respect for a lot of people here. You impose what YOU THINK I am saying rather than looking at what I actually said.

My point stands. If the parents are okay with this and believe me, I'm sure they know their kids a lot better than a bunch of idiotic, outraged, jump-to-conclusions with no info assholes on the internet.

Click to expand...

Clearly not, because neither the parents nor the school officials are able to see the psychological damage that they're clearly doing. I fully expect this scandal to lead to a controversy in which the individuals responsible for implementing the policy will be punished in some way. How can I not jump to this conclusion when any sane person who has taken an intro College Psychology course should be able to see how this is a foolish and antiquated form of punishment.

And how am I twisting your words? The only point that you're making is that this policy is ok because both the parents and the school authorities are consenting to it. How is that different from, "Anything done with the approval of the public and authority figures is right!"?

Click to expand...

You're reading too far into what I said. If I wrote a few paragraphs explaining my thoughts on this subject and then added in some filler to fully explain my stance on public and authority figure approval, then maybe I would give you the merit to just assume I agree with all public figures because they are public figures (I don't, btw).

I am simply commenting on this ONE instance and based on the article and common sense I side with the parents. I believe there is a reason this is being done and doubt it's being used as an archaic form of punishment on generally unruly kids. The article clearly point out these kids have "behavioral disabilities" and it's not uncommon for schools to issue "time outs" or have "cool down/cool off rooms" for out of control students.

I think the problem most people have is what I refer to as the softening of society to a point where truly effective methods are looked down upon in favor of PC methods that don't really work.

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Really? Politically correct methods of discipline? You clearly don't realize that when you use that phrase in this way, what you're actually referring to are things like this:

and this...

It's not just a matter of thinking this form of punishment is archaic. It's not subjective. Locking mentally handicapped children in boxes is a relic of a bygone era. This is a fact. You're free to disagree but doing so, like your comment about "Politically Correct" punishment, only exposes how little you know about psychology or history or humanity in general.

This is the problem with this situation. Ignorant people like you have managed to form a consensus over a very important issue and the result is that these children are being subjected to what is essentially abuse.

I'm amazed that there are't tests which preclude these kind of ignoramuses from holding such important positions in public schools.

Though it is true. I doubt a lot of moral systems would say that a person's moral obligations towards a child are determined by what the guardian gives them permission to do.

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I never said everything a parent is okay with is something moral or in the best interest of the child, but in this case if it's not against the law, supported by the school district AND authorized by the parents, I will agree with the parents.